Dahlia Amazon bedding plants from Dry Creek Garden Company: When working with a budget, make sure to include the costs of watering and fertilizer. / Tim Dunn/Reno Gazette-Journal

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TIPS FOR THRIFTY GARDENING

Money's tight, but gardeners still can make lovely, productive gardens by planning, sticking to a budget and shopping around.

"Do not buy on a whim," said Victor Schneider, assistant manager and green goods buyer at Moana Nursery. "Decide what you can afford and look for things that spread out further. Make sure it's something that will last."

Schneider offered these tips for thrifty gardening:

Perrenials are more expensive than annuals, but they last longer.

EXTRA COSTS: If you're working with a budget, don't forget to figure in costs for fertilizer, soil enhancers and water. Using proper soil and drought-tolerant plants can help cut water costs.

Planters, hanging baskets and potted plants add splashes of color and are easy to plant. Fully planted, they're fairly inexpensive or you can plant your own.

BULK: If you buy vegetable plants, purchase six-packs rather than singles.

Wildflower seed can cover a large area. The flowers don't use much water, provide good color, are easy to care for and come back year after year.

Ornamental grasses or shrubs can spread out to cover and dress up an area.

-- Susan Skorupa, RGJ

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Gardeners and garden shops are facing an unusual spring and an unusual economy.

Cool, wet weather preceded by the lack of any late-spring hard freezes changed people's planting schedules and gardening habits this spring, while economic worries have prompted more people to try to grown their own vegetables to save money.

Garden shops are noticing the changes and pricing some items accordingly.

"It's not only weird this year at the nursery but at the growers," said Roxanne Martin, green buyer at Rail City Garden Center in Sparks. "The stuff I normally get I can't get because they're coming out so late in the season. I can't find boysenberries, raspberries, blackberries. This has been a strange year.

"This year we have sold more veggies," Martin said. "People are trying to save money. ... People are wanting more of a landscape that gives something back."

Specials on some items that normally don't go on sale until later in the summer already are cropping up, partly because people began planting early this year, said Nancy Strickland of Dry Creek Garden in Reno.

"Usually, people are planting now," she said early last week. "But there were no freezes in May. People kind of planted a month ahead."

At G & G Nursery and Landscaping in Sparks, vegetable plants are the good deals now, said owner Steve Giossi. He's selling tomato, zucchini, squash and pepper plants for $2.88, a couple dollars off the regular price to encourage sales during the economic slowdown.

"With tough economic times, we'd rather move them and give people some good value," he said.

He's also selling trees in 15-gallon containers that regularly retail for $99 to $129 at half price.

"They're trees that we've had since last spring that we need to move them or shift them up to 20- or 25-gallon (containers)," Giossi said. "So, there are deals to be had."

Moana Nursery is offering specials on trees and shrubs. For June, the nursery has a buy-one-get-one-free deal on vegetable plants, including four-packs and six-packs.

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"A lot of us are doing buy-one-get-one-free or half price," said Victor Schneider, assistant manager and green goods buyer. "We still have spring conditions a little."

Garden shops are selling plants and seeds and also offering advice on anything from planting tips to building garden containers.

"Lots of people are doing vegetable gardens," said Sara Schopper, manager of Truckee River Rock and Nursery in Reno. "We've been selling a ton of vegetables this year. Tons of people have built their own (planter) boxes and filled them with tomatoes, bell peppers, corn."

"People who are new at this, want to know what they need, and we advise on that." she said. "We tell them about spacing. We have lady bugs to use instead of pesticide to help with aphids. They're cheaper than pesticides."

For the budget-minded, Truckee River has trees in 5-gallon containers for $32.95, less expensive than the 15-gallon size.

"It won't hurt the budget and in a few years, it will be big," Schopper said.

"People are staying home and want their yards to look nice," Schopper said.

Earth boxes and container gardens are small and intense, and don't require much space or training to grow vegetables, said Pawl Hollis, owner of Rail City Garden Center.

"Most vegetables will grow in containers and they need less maintenance than typical row crops," Hollis said.

Another idea that does far more than save money is to keep a garden record, Hollis said. A simple notebook works but there are books specific for gardening that also provide planting and plant information. A record lets a gardener keep track of such things as which tomato variety worked better than another, which treatment cured a plant problem and how other garden questions or problems were resolved in case they recur in later years.

"It's important for starters to keep some sort of record," Hollis said. "Record keeping lets you keep a reference ... and possibly help be prepared for next year. You can look out for certain things when they're small."